Chicago Afrobeat Project (CAbP) is a seven- to 14-piece world music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

 ensemble with many influences, including afrobeat

Afrobeat

Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...

, Afro-Cuban

Afro-Cuban

The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...

, funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, juju music

Jùjú music

Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or...

, and rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

. The members are well versed in afrobeat

Afrobeat

Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...

, the musical style of Fela Kuti

Fela Kuti

Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...

. Based in Chicago, IL, they play over 100 live performances a year, sometimes accompanied by African dancers from Chicago’s Muntu Dance Theatre.

Members

• David Glines - Guitar
• Kevin Ford - Keyboards, Studio Shaman
• Garrick Smith - Baritone Saxophone
• Angelo Garcia - Tenor Saxophone
• Mark Thomson - Trombone
• Antar Jackson - Vocalist
• Ricardo Gonzalez - Drum set
• Danjuma Gaskin - Percussion
• Graham Czach - Bass

• Chadwick - Painter (select shows)
• TJ Okulnola - Talking Drum (select shows)
• Tosha Alston - Dancer (select shows)
• Koya Odum - Dancer (select shows)

Awards

• 2011 - Winner, Best African Artist: Chicago Music Awards
• 2010 - Winner, Best African Artist: Chicago Music Awards
• 2009 - Winner, Best African Artist: Chicago Music Awards
• 2008 - Winner, Best African Artist: Chicago Music Awards
• 2006 - Nominated for Chicago Music Award's “Award of Honor for Contribution to World beat Music”
• 2005 - Nominated Best African Artist: Chicago Music Awards
• 2004 - Nominated Best African Artist: Chicago Music Awards

Selected venues

• Bele Chere Music Festival (2005, 2006)
• Chicago’s Summer Dance Series (2005, 2007)
• Chicago World Music Festival (2003, 2006)
• High Sierra Music Festival
  High Sierra Music Festival
  High Sierra Music Festival is a multi-day music festival held in Quincy, California, a mountainous area about 80 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada.The festival is held each year the weekend of July 4...
  
   (2007)
• Martyrs (2009) http://revolutionarymusic.com/events/chicago-afrobeat-project-martyrs
• Summer Camp Festival (2005, 2007)
• Vassar College
  Vassar College
  Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
  
   Jazz Festival (2005, 2006)
• Wakarusa Music Festival (2006)
• Starwood Festival
  Starwood Festival
  The Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...
  
   (2011)

Guest musicians

• Bobby Broom
  Bobby Broom
  Bobby Broom , birthname Robert Broom, Jr., is an American jazz guitarist, composer and educator born and raised in New York City. Broom performs and records with jazz saxophone legend Sonny Rollins as well as his Bobby Broom Trio and the Deep Blue Organ Trio...
  
  
• Diverse
  Diverse
  Diverse is an American rapper. An underground hip-hop artist, he has received critical acclaim "from knowledgeable heads worldwide".-Career:...
  
  
• Fareed Haque
  Fareed Haque
  Fareed Haque is a fusion guitar virtuoso of Pakistani and Chilean descent.Raised in Chicago, he studied at North Texas State University and Northwestern University....
  
  
• Howard Levy
  Howard Levy
  Howard Levy is a Grammy Award–winning, American harmonicist, pianist, composer, and producer....
  
  
• Garaj Mahal
  Garaj Mahal
  Garaj Mahal is a four piece band, based in the United States, playing a fusion of jazz, Indian music, rock, and especially funk: Kai Eckhardt , Fareed Haque , Alan Hertz , Sean Rickman and Eric Levy...
  
  
• Jeff Parker
  Jeff Parker (musician)
  Jeff Parker is an American jazz and rock guitarist based in Chicago. Parker is best known as an experimental musician, working with avant-garde electronic, rock, and improvisational groups....
  
  
• Tortoise
  Tortoise (band)
  Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
  
  
• Paul Wertico
  Paul Wertico
  Paul Wertico is an American drummer. He gained recognition as a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 until 2001, leaving the group to spend more time with his family and to pursue other musical interests. Metheny heard the Simon Bard Group with Wertico and bassist Steve Rodby, and invited...
  
  

Discography

• Off the Grid (2008) EP - CAbP Music (2009)
• (A) Move to Silent Unrest - CAbP Music (2007)
• Chicago Afrobeat Project - CAbP Music (2005)